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Dublin – a brief overview

The days pass easily when you’re in Dublin. Ireland’s capital city might not bowl you over with large-scale postcard sights or gleaming skyscrapers, but it’s a place with character and history in spades. It doesn’t take long for visitors to get drawn in to the warren of Liffey-side laneways, green parks and hidden-away squares, and you’ll find plenty to explore along

the way, from a near-peerless literary heritage to a famously convivial pub scene. There’s a modern sheen to much of the city these days but traditions still run strong, and if you’re embarking on a wider trip around the rest of the country, it’s the ideal place to start.

National Gallery of Ireland

Home to the country’s collection of Irish and European art, this free gallery has some excellent examples of Dutch masters and Italian baroque works, as well as paintings by numerous home-grown artists.

Kilmainham Gaol

A fascinating (if sometimes disturbing) place to visit, this now-abandoned gaol gives good insight into the turmoil that Ireland has gone through in recent centuries. Tours fill up fast at peak times, so don’t leave it too late in the day.

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Country Information

Country overview

Ireland is one of the globe’s most singular travel destinations, a feisty, twinkling country far more famous for the sum of its parts than for any specific sight or attraction. Its landscapes are raw and extraordinary. Its cities are animated and very much its own. Its histories – both ancient and contemporary – are full of tales of adversity and resolve.

Tying all this together is the Irish character, a mythologised combination of bright-eyed bonhomie and bar-room banter: there’s good reason why the planet’s full of Irish pubs.

Geography

The Republic of Ireland lies in the north Atlantic Ocean and is separated from Britain by the Irish Sea to the west. The northeastern part of the island (Northern Ireland) is part of the United Kingdom.

There are four provinces: Leinster, which covers the eastern portion of the country around Dublin; Munster, which covers the south; Connacht, which covers the west of Ireland; and Ulster, which is predominantly in Northern Ireland but also covers the northern tip of the Republic.

Ireland has a central plain surrounded by a rim of mountains and hills offering some of the most varied and unspoilt scenery in Europe. Inland you’ll find bogs, moors, forests, lakes, mountains and wetlands. Quiet sandy beaches, semi-tropical bays warmed by the Gulf Stream, and rugged cliffs make up the 5,600km (3,500 miles) of coastline.

For those who really want to make the most of the coastal scenery (and are keen to see a bit of Northern Ireland too), a full loop of the island – sticking close to the sea at all times – can be done with ease in a couple of weeks.

Together, the landscape and the offshore waters provide a good habitat for a wide variety of wildlife.

Seals and dolphins are spotted regularly, while the Cork coast even offers the chance to whale-watch over the summer months.

There are numerous rivers in Ireland, the longest of which – the River Shannon, at 360 km (224 miles) in length – is also seen as one of the country’s most picturesque. Other notable waterways include the River Liffey, which flows from the Wicklow Mountains to the Irish Sea, through the centre of Dublin.

General knowledge

Key facts

Population: 4775982

Population Density (per sq km): 68

Capital: Dublin.

Language

Irish (Gaelic) is the official language. Estimates vary on the number of people who genuinely speak it as a first language (somewhere between 50,000 and 100,000), but English is the language of the majority.

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Getting around

Public Transport

It’s not hard to get around Dublin by public transport – a tram system (known as LUAS), an electric rail network (known as DART) and a range of bus options make it straightforward to take in the main attractions. The city centre is compact, so getting around on foot is a realistic option too.

Taxis

Taxis can be hailed in the street, found at ranks or booked by phone. The main ranks in the city centre are to be found on O’Connell Street and College Green. Companies to call include NRC Taxis (tel: (01) 677 2222) and KCR Taxis (tel: (01) 492 2233).

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Nightlife in Dublin

ListMap

A trip to Dublin has always been as much about enjoying the nights as the days, but there’s more on offer than the city’s famous pubs, with some excellent cafés, arts venues and nightclubs to complement the Guinness snugs.

A trip to Dublin has always been as much about enjoying the nights as the days, but there’s more on offer than the city’s famous pubs, with some excellent cafés, arts venues and nightclubs to complement the Guinness snugs.

4 Dame Lane

Dame Lane, Dublin 2 Dublin Ireland Show on map

A laid-back, fashionable DJ bar with a busy roster of events.

The Cobblestone

77 King Street North, Dublin 7 Dublin Ireland Show on map

One of the city’s more traditional pubs, and a good place to catch live music.

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Calendar of events

Temple Bar Trad - Irish Music and Culture Festival

This is Dublin’s premier celebration of traditional Irish music and culture. For five days and nights, Temple Bar in the heart of the city, comes alive to the sound of jigs and reels from the many pubs and cultural centres in the area. Nowhere else in the city do audiences get the chance to see masters of the tradition perform up close in small intimate venues. With live music concerts, pub sessions, workshops, children’s events, festival club and much much more, prepare for a barrage of flutes, accordions, bodhráns, mighty sessions and great craic

St. Patrick's Day Festival

The annual St. Patrick’s Day Festival runs over the course of a three day event. There will be a vibrant selection of live music from home grown talent and visitors can let their feet do the talking at the large Céilí or learn how to pour the perfect pint from the Guinness experts. There will also be family fun, film, sport, comedy and much more.

Bloomsday Festival

A walk around the city (starting at the James Joyce Centre, 35 North Great George’s Street) in celebration of the life of James Joyce, as part of the annual Dublin Writers’ Festival. The event is named after the main character in Ulysses – Leopold Bloom. Fans of the author dressed in Edwardian costume follow the route around Dublin taken by Bloom and usually have a breakfast of sausages, beans, black and white pudding and toast at some stage along the way. Davy Byrne’s Pub usually figures on the route. Readings and dramatisations from the novel take place, as well as traditional Irish music. Many celebrations are hosted by the James Joyce Centre.

Dublin Horse Show

A celebration of Ireland’s affinity with the horse, the Dublin Horse Show is something of an institution in the city and is one of the highlights of summer in Dublin. With guests often dressed in their finest suits and dresses, the show is a prestigious affair which sees over 1,400 horses and ponies competing in more than 100 competitions and classes for big prize money. In addition to the many horse displays, visitors are entertained with theatre, live music and magic shows and there is also a shopping area where visitors can pick up a memento of the day. Steeped in tradition, Thursday is usually Ladies’ Day during which a cash prize is awarded to the best dressed lady. Each year, the glittering show attracts over 100,000 visitors from all over the world.

The Liffey Swim

September 2018

Venue: River Liffey

Since 1920, spectators turn out to watch swimmers race in the River Liffey from Rory O’More Bridge to the Custom House. Over 250 men and 100 women swim in the historic race, with the Liffey Boardwalk providing a great viewing point.

Dublin Fringe Festival

Ireland’s largest festival for the performing arts has grown from its modest beginnings in 1995 to become one of the city’s best-loved events. It now puts on about 750 performances in 30 venues throughout the city in places as diverse as St Stephen’s Green and Mounjoy Prison as well as a variety of pubs and smaller venues. The festival aims to deliver a programme of ‘fantastic, beautiful, exciting, head-bending live performances’ in the fields of modern theatre, dance, comedy and visual arts. Total audiences exceed 45,000 in what has become a festival of international importance.

Dublin Theatre Festival

The best time to experience Dublin’s many theatres is during the city’s annual October Theatre Festival. The programme promises ‘a bold, diverse, and entertaining international programme, with dominant themes of passion, politics, and betrayal’. For 16 days, stages across Dublin come alive with a range of productions ranging from puppetry to live theatre. As well as plenty of home-grown talent, visitors have the opportunity to see acts from all corners of the world.

Dublin City Marathon

More than 10,000 runners have participated over recent years in the Adidas Dublin City Marathon. The 42.2km (26.2 miles) race starts at Baggot Street and finishes in Merrion Square West, both near the city centre. The route passes through many of Dublin’s most historic Georgian streets, with Trinity College, Herbert Park, St Stephens Green and Phoenix Park among the highlights of a mainly flat single-lap course. Thousands of spectators line the route to watch the race and cheer on the runners. The winners receive the Noel Carroll Memorial Trophy, while all those that cross the finish line get an engraved medal and a commemorative marathon T-shirt. The day before the marathon an International Breakfast race is run to welcome overseas athletes with traditional Irish music.

Samhain Halloween Festival

31 October 2018

Venue: Venues throughout the city

One of the city’s few genuinely Celtic traditions, with parties and celebrations climaxing in fireworks and a thrilling night-time procession of witches, devils, druids and dragons.

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Climate and best time to visit Dublin

Dublin being where it is, the city experiences little in the way of temperature extremes. That said, its east coast location means it generally enjoys better weather than cities on the west coast – there’s a good chance of sunshine from May to August. Climate aside, however, this is somewhere with a huge number of festivals and events, and key times to be in town include St Patrick’s Day (taking place each 17 March) and ‘Festival Season’, a diverse programme of events which incorporates everything from a fringe festival to a Bram Stoker celebration and runs throughout September and October.

Climate & best time to visit Ireland

Ireland’s relatively temperate climate is due to mild southwesterly winds and the effects of the Atlantic Gulf Stream. Summers are warm – only rarely getting unpleasantly hot – while temperatures during winter are much cooler, although it’s far from common for the temperature to drop below freezing and snowfall is rare. Spring and autumn are very mild, with rainfall expected all year round.

The other chief characteristic of the climate, however, is its unpredictability. You might be basking in balmy T-shirt weather one week, then wrapping up to stave off the chill the next – all the while with an umbrella to hand.

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Phone calls & Internet

Telephone Country code: +353

Mobile telephony and Internet Since June 2017, EU citizens traveling within the EU, and also in Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein have been able to use their cell phones and surf the Net without incurring any extra charges: In other words, customers pay the same price for phone calls, text messages and data volume as they do at home. Restrictions do apply to the constant use of SIM cards abroad, however, and caps may be set on data packages. For full details, contact your mobile telephony provider in your country. Travelers using a SIM card from a non-EU state do not benefit from the new arrangement.

Free Internet access via Wi-Fi is possible in many busy tourist spots. When using public Wi-Fi networks, it is a wise precaution to ensure encryption of all passwords, credit card details and banking TANs entered. Use of a VPN app or security software to check the safety of a hotspot is recommended.

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Shopping in Dublin

Key Areas

Central Dublin is full of shops and stores, a lot of them aimed squarely at tourists, but you’ll find some good outlets on Grafton Street and its surrounding lanes. North of the Liffey, O’Connell Street and Henry Street both offer plenty in the way of high-street names.

Markets

Dublin has markets by the dozen. Among the best – and most central – are the Temple Bar Food Market, which runs at weekends, the Ha-Penny Flea Market (Lower Liffey Street), which takes place each Saturday, and the Moore Street Market, which gives a blast of daily Dublin life six days a week.

Shopping Centres

Good malls to try include Stephen’s Green Shopping Centre (Stephen’s Green West), which has more than 100 outlets in the city centre, and the Blanchardstown Centre in the northwest suburbs, where you’ll find more than 180 stores and 25 restaurants, as well as three nearby retail parks.

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Traveller etiquette

Social Conventions

The Irish are renowned as an affable, easy-going people, whose conversation is liberally dosed with humour, irreverence and – if you listen carefully – a beal bocht, an Irish expression that translates as ‘the poor mouth’. It refers to a kind of modesty where the speaker is careful to talk themselves down and never reveal how well he or she is actually doing. In short, the Irish don’t really like a show-off.

Arguably the best place to observe and engage with the Irish is in the pub, still a centre of social interaction in Ireland, especially in smaller communities throughout the country.

A meal in an Irish home is usually a substantial affair and guests will eat well. Dinner is the main meal of the day and is now eaten in the evening. Casual dress is widely acceptable, but people will often dress up for smart restaurants and social functions. Handshaking is usual, and modes of address will often be informal. Smoking is banned in all public enclosed/working spaces, including pubs, bars and restaurants.

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Health

Main emergency number: 112

Food & Drink

Levels of hygiene are of a high standard in Ireland, so travellers should only take precautions that they would do in any other developed country. There’s no more danger of being served contaminated or undercooked food in Ireland than anywhere else. A statutory, independent, science-based body, the Food Safety Authority of Ireland, is tasked “to take all reasonable steps to ensure that food produced, distributed or marketed in the State meets the highest standards of food safety and hygiene reasonably available.” The only real problems posed by the local food and drink are mild stomach complaints resulting from overindulgence. As in any other country, junk food and fast food isn’t hard to come by. An over-reliance on fish and chips or the omnipresent “fry” (heaped breakfasts of bacon, fried eggs, black pudding, white pudding and so on) isn’t recommended.

Tap water is generally fine to drink, although stories in recent years have suggested that in some areas the levels of fluoride might be risky, particularly to bottle-fed babies. Bottled water is readily available. And while it might be novel to be sampling Guinness in its home country, being in Ireland by no means makes you immune from crippling hangovers and related after-effects.

Other Risks

Ireland is not a risky destination in which to travel. A lack of temperature extremes means that sunstroke is rarely a problem, although you should be aware that summer temperatures can occasionally reach well over 25°C. In these cases, the usual precautions apply: use a generous amount of sunscreen and be sensible about how long you spend in direct sunlight. Be aware that a breezy day can sometimes mask high temperatures.

Hikers or cyclists travelling over long distances are perhaps the most at risk from the weather, good or bad. In warm weather it’s advisable to drink – and carry – plenty of water and wear appropriate clothing, including headwear. In bad weather, have waterproof clothing to hand and, if possible, inform others where you’re intending to travel.

Blisters can be another problem for hikers. These can often occur if new walking shoes are being worn across a long distance. Ideally footwear should be worn in before the trip.

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Visa & Immigration

IATA Travel Centre

The IATA Travel Centre delivers accurate passport, visa and health requirement information at a glance. It is a trusted, centralized source for the latest international travel requirements. The IATA Travel Centre is the most accurate source available because it is based on a comprehensive database used by virtually every airline, and information is gathered from official sources worldwide, such as immigration and police authorities.